Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common syndrome of musculo —
skeletal pain and fatigue .Sleep disturbances have been suggested
to play a central role in the pathophysiology of FM .This study
included 30 female patients with fibromyalgia syndrome
(FMS)with mean age of 33±7.6 years and mean disease duration of
5.4±1.8 years. Fifteen age and sex matched normal controls were
also included in the study.We estimated the level of serum cortisol
and melatonin at 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. in both groups.
Serum cortisol and melatonin were significantly lower
in FMS patients than in the control group at 8 a. m. and 10 p.m.
Also there was non significant difference between the 8 a.m. and
the 10 p.m. serum levels of cortisol and of melatonin i.e. loss of
diurnal rhythm of cortisol and melatonin in FMS patients.The
cortisol finding may be due to a relative adrenal
hyporesponsiveness, while the melatonin finding may be due to a
decrease in N-acetyltransferase activity in FMS .
We concluded that the changes of serum cortisol and
melatonin levels might explain the fatigue, widespread pain
and tenderness and the dysregulation of the sleep that occur in
patients with FMS |
